Stephanie McRae promoted at Leo Burnett Group, Saatchi & Saatchi Canada
Leo Burnett Group and Saatchi & Saatchi Canada have promoted Stephanie McRae to SVP, head of human resources, building off of her work as head of DE&I for Publicis Groupe Canada.
At Publicis, McRae has spearheaded transformative cross-Groupe initiatives such as “This is the job,” a program dedicated to fostering diversity in the industry by introducing young, racialized individuals to marketing. McRae also played a crucial role in backing “Black Youth Can,” a pro-bono campaign initiative and brand platform involving more than 40 Groupe employees for more than 2 years. The campaign sheds light on the CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals, a Toronto non-profit helping Black youth connect with their employment dreams.
“[McRae’s] energy and commitment to our Groupe wide DE&I efforts have been invaluable,” says Andrew Bruce, CEO of Publicis Groupe Canada. “As we implement our Power of One model, the importance of having a coordinated DE&I effort is mission critical.”
Beginning her career at Grip, McRae cut her teeth within the Omnicom Group rising to VP, human resources at BBDO. She most recently worked at Taxi, running global operations for HR prior to and during the acquisition by WPP.
In 2020, McRae joined Publicis Groupe Canada, taking on a key role in managing talent for two of its brands in Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett. She helped win the “Great Place to Work” award with her team in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Simultaneously, she has led efforts to formalize and launch a concrete Diversity and Inclusion agenda across all Publicis Groupe brands in Canada.
“Her relentless pursuit to bring in and nurture the best talent and help create an environment where our people can do the best work of their careers is contagious,” says Ben Tarr, president of Leo Burnett Group Canada.
From left to right: Mitch Cayouette, Josée Bourque, Mathieu Bédard, Thibaut Laporte,
Marie-Michèle Jacques, Fanny Landrieu and Félix Major.
Camden bolsters its leadership team by seven
Camden is adding seven new partners across its Canadian, French and Asian offices, including five based out of Montreal.
The latter includes Fanny Landrieu (formerly of Fred & Farid, Artefact Shanghai) who joined Camden in 2021 during the pandemic as VP of client services. Landrieu is now a partner in Montreal.
Félix Major (formerly of Monolith, C2 Montréal), appointed VP of Business Intelligence in late 2019, has also been named a partner in Montreal.
Mitch Cayouette (formerly of Sid Lee, BBR, GTB), VP of creation at Camden Montreal for more than two years, was also promoted to partner.
Rounding off the Montreal office partner appointments is Thibaut Laporte, VP of strategy, and previously a senior consultant to numerous agencies and advertisers in Canada and France, and Josée Bourque, a CPA and consultant who previously closely collaborated with Camden for more than 10 years.
